HINSDALE, IL – A pair of Hinsdale historic homes were close to being demolished, but they are now being saved.
On Thursday, Hinsdale trustees generally agreed on subsidies for renovations of the two houses – at 121 S. County Line Road and 425 E. Eighth St.
In 2021, residents feared the County Line house – designed by Frank Lloyd Wright in the 1890s – was headed for the wrecking ball.
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When the house went up for sale at the time, an uproar ensued among residents and preservationists nationwide. Then Lucas Ruecker and Safina Uberoi bought it.
“I was out of town on business, and it came up on the market,” Village President Tom Cauley recalled. “I got emails from all over the country. They all heard about this property and that the house may be torn down. It seemed pretty inevitable at that point. So I went and lit a candle in church, and Lucas showed up and bought the property.”
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Ruecker said the home – known as the Bagley House – is something that he and his wife purchased “on a very short notice.”
“We want to take back the house to its original shape, the way Frank Lloyd Wright had designed it. Over the years, in a desire to get more space, the previous owner expanded it in different directions,” Ruecker said. “Very little of the original house is left.”
But less space would make the home too small by the Hinsdale market’s standards, he said. So the owners plan to add living space in the basement.
Ruecker credited Alexis Braden, a village trustee who previously served as a local historic preservation commissioner, as being key to the decision to buy the house.
“She twisted our arm, she fed us cake and said you have to do it,” Ruecker said.
The renovation is slated to cost $373,000. Under the village’s incentive program, the owners could get a subsidy of about $13,000. The owners would get this by the village rebating their part of the property tax bill for five years.
Meanwhile, the house on Eighth Street is in line for a nearly $23,000 subsidy for the estimated $662,000 project. The subsidy is in the form of a five-year tax rebate.
Earlier this year, the house was on the way to being demolished, sparking objections from residents. The Historic Preservation Commission resisted the proposal, with one member accusing the owner of wanting to “screw” the neighborhood.
Now, the owner is preserving the historic nature of the house and building an addition.
“You will not see the rear addition from the street at all,” said architect Abbey Rohlonger of Clarendon Hills-based Michael Abraham Architecture.
Both projects are expected to be completed by 2027.
The Village Board plans to vote on the subsidies at a later meeting.
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